Danke/Gracias/Thank you, Suiza.

Switzerland. The land of: hot wine, Christmas, $15 drinks, snow, COLD, $30 cab rides, tall people, cheese, amazing bread, beautiful landscapes, cute Christmas markets, government-sponsored heroin, good music, adorable buildings (hello, Swiss chalet!), sweet people, blond hair, Santa Claus, plum pie, delicious food, drunk Swiss men at clubs...well, that pretty much sums up my trip!!

My lovely friend Isabelle was gracious enough to host me this weekend and be my tour guide. When I got there, she had the whole weekend planned out and everything sounded fantastic! I arrived in the afternoon and she picked me up from the airport. After finding each other (apparently I went out the wrong door as we were separated by a glass wall...), we went to her cute apartment and settled in a bit. Then we went out to the "farm" where her horse, Sasha, is kept. Sasha is a beautiful big horse and he is about 20 years old. It was cooooolllld and snowy when we got there, so we took a quick walk with Sasha and went back when our feet were frozen. It was a beautiful introduction to Switzerland, a beautiful snowy countryside with adorable Swiss kids sledding, an amazing view of the city below all lit up...quite amazing!

After a nice walk with Sasha, we headed back to Isa's apartment where we had dinner. She made chicken and veggies, which was quite delicious. Then we got ready and headed out for a night on the town. We met a couple of her girlfriends at a club that has a 25+ party the first Friday of every month. You have to have ID showing you are 25 or over. Pretty funny, and lots of fun! We waited in line for a while to get a stamp to get in. It was cold. Like bitterly cold. And snowing. And we were waiting outside. But we were bundled up pretty well and they brought out a cup of hot wine for everyone, which was very nice! I had had "vino caliente" here in Sevilla a week or two before and loved it, so was excited that this is a common Swiss drink :) After getting our stamp, we headed to a different bar to get a drink or two before returning to the club. This is where the $15 drinks came in. Needless to say I only had one. Granted, it was an amazingly delicious Caiprinha (Brazilian? drink. so good.), but an expensive one. After a couple drinks (or one in my case), we headed back to the club. We checked our coats, got a shot of...something fruity...and headed to the dance floor. There were a lot of people. Drunk people. But mostly just really fun and friendly and TALL people. I loved it. The girls were telling me about some of the regulars at this 25+ party (which they are also regulars at). Including the twins guys who are probably about 6'7" and stay together the whole time. Of course there were some short and regular-height people too. But so many tall people, I was in heaven. After a couple of fights, a couple drunk Swiss guys and a few hours, I told Isa I was too tired to stay any longer. At this point I had been awake for 24 hours. I was dead on my tired, cold feet. So we headed back home (stopping first for veggie burgers!) and I passed out pretty much immediately.

The next day, after getting up nice and late, we got ready and headed to Lucern. Isa has a friend in Lucern who owns a couple hotels and manages a restaurant. So we had a pretty great weekend. Lucern is just beautiful. When you picture Switzerland in your mind, Lucern is what you see, minus the green rolling hills and meadows you can frolic through. Or maybe that's only what I see in my mind...

Anyway, Lucern is fantastic. You can see the Swiss Alps on a clear day, as well as Lake Lucern. Even seeing both at the same time often. Its quite picturesque. We found a parking spot and did a little shopping in the Christmas-y streets of the cute town. Now, I should mention that it gets dark very early there. Like at 5. And stores close at about 4pm. Quite a different lifestyle from Spain. Anyway, we did a little shopping, picking up all kinds of cute things, until the stores closed, then went for some coffee (or tea in my case) and cake. We found a cute little cafe and I got some plum cake and tea. Delicious. I didn't eat a single thing in Switzerland that I didn't absolutely love. After the goodies, we headed to the hotel where we got settled in and watched a German music television show. I had no idea what they were saying or singing about, but the music was all good! After a little rest, we went to dinner.

Phillip's restaurant is amazing. It's so cozy inside, with wood-paneled walls and long buffet-style tables. Dim lighting and a big fireplace. Just beautiful. Then you eat the food. I never wanted to leave. This restaurant is a fixed-menu, four-course dinner style restaurant. On the menu for this night was: first, a delicious green salad with yummy veggies and a vinaigrette dressing. Next up was some risotto with shrimp. Big, delicious shrimp and creamy delicious risotto. So. good. We took a break at this point and drank some wine. Some delicious Italian wine. (After finishing our glass of champagne earlier). While we were resting our stomachs for the next course, we were being entertained watching the Lucern soccer team down below. We were seated in the balcony area, overlooking the kitchen and other main dining area of the restaurant. The soccer team was taking up three or four giant tables and laughing and singing and having a grand ole time. Again, no idea what they were saying, but I could tell they were having fun. While chatting with Phillip, we found out that the team was going to be getting a visit from Santa Claus later on. December 6th is Santa Claus Day in Switzerland. So the country was gearing up for that day. We saw all kinds of Santa Clauses on the streets. But then one walked into the restaurant. He was not alone.

I'm sure you're imaging he came in with some elves. Or perhaps Rudolph. Maybe even Mrs. Claus or Frosty the Snowman? No...I'll let David Sedaris explain. You see, Santa Claus came with what Mr. Sedaris refers to as "6 to 8 black men." Now, his story is set in the Holland. But I imagine its pretty much the same in Switzerland. In America, if a child is naughty and not nice, Santa gives him a lump of coal instead of toys. In Holland and apparently Switzerland, Santa's "helpers" beat the children with "switches." Imagine a broom made out of hay or something. Sounds terrifying. Apparently it is, as Isabelle confirmed that she was scared as a child by this story. In and of itself, this is a pretty funny thing to watch. Imagine Santa giving joke gifts to members of the soccer team while making fun of them in German, while at the same time a slide show of embarrassing photos is being shown on the wall. The "helpers" are standing behind Santa, and when the other members of the soccer team get too rowdy, then walk over and smack them with the switch, or beat on the table, knocking over glasses. Add to this a glass of champagne and a half of a bottle of wine and you've got yourself a pretty entertaining night. But add to that the David Sedaris story that you've read a million times....and I could not stop laughing. It was soooo funny! Every once in a while Santa or one of the soccer players would look up and ask us girls a question (we were pretty much the only other people left in the restaurant at this point). I had no idea what they were saying, but Isa always responded for us. After the third course of chicken with yummy veggies, and dessert of apple tart-pie-pastry-thing, it was time to go.

Time to go get another drink. The plan was to go get a couple more drinks, maybe go do some more dancing. But after going to the first place and getting a drink, we were both already exhausted. So we headed back to the hotel to sleep. Such a fun night! On Sunday morning, we woke up late again, Phillip brought breakfast to the room for us, we got ready and headed back to Basel (its about an hour away). When we got back, the weather was pretty bad. Lots of rain and cold. Mostly rain. So we didn't really do much on Sunday. We both had some homework to work on, so we did that for a bit, had some pasta for dinner, watched Mama Mia, drank some tea from Isa's new teapot that she got in Lucern, and headed to bed.

Monday, Isa had to work in the morning. But I did not, so I slept in again. I got up late and tried (unsuccessfully) to figure out how to call the airline to tell them that I had bought way too much stuff and needed to check a bag on my way back. When that didn't work, I did a little more school reading and then Isa came home. We then headed to see the horse again, so cute :) But because it was rainy, she just gave him a good brushing and then we went back home. And next up was the Christmas market!

I have complained plenty already about how Sevilla just doesn't really seem very Christmas-y. Well, I got my fill of Christmas Spirit in Switzerland. Actually, I don't think that's possible, but I got a lot of Christmas Spirit anyway. Besides every street being decked in beautiful Christmas lights, Santa Clauses walking all over handing out mandarins or just looking cute, snow everywhere (not that this was done specifically for Christmas...or was it???), Christmas goodies in the cafes, etc-but then there's the Christmas Markets on top of that. These markets are just lovely. Stall after stall all decked out in Christmas lights and ornaments, selling Swiss Christmas goodies (which Isabelle convinced almost every shop-keeper to let me have a taste of), cute handmade ornaments or toys, beautiful scarves and knitted things, random creative works...hot wine...so much fun. We started out by having a hot wine and then wandered through the stalls. After a while, and after buying almost everything I saw or tried, we were ready for dinner. Time for some super traditional Swiss food: raclette. Cheesy goodness. This is a dish of a few boiled potatoes served over an entire plate of raclette cheese, with a pickle and a few pearl onions thrown in. It is amazing. Sooo cheesy. And delicious. And filling. We walked away with very full stomachs, on to another part of the Christmas market.

At this point, we ran into a stall selling some nice scarves. The couple selling the scarves and hand-knitted purses, kids sweaters, etc., definitely did not look Swiss. Or German. Or French. Isabelle started talking to them in Swiss-German, but they weren't quite understanding. She asked if English was better. No. They said Spanish. Well, fancy that! It was nice to be able to translate for Isabelle for a change :) We told them we'd be back later to get the scarf, then headed to the other stalls. So much cute, Christmas-y stuff. But it was cold and rainy and I had already spent waaaay too much money. So we headed back for the scarf from the cute Venezuelan couple. I sneakily took a video of our conversation, as I have to make a video for my psychology class, about my learning of Spanish on this study-abroad trip. Anyway, after a mix of Spanish, German and English, we got the scarf that Isa wanted and headed back home. We watched another movie (Men Who Stare at Goats-pretty great!), and headed to bed. Then I had to leave the next morning :(

So here I am, back in Sevilla again. After the most turbulent plane ride I've ever been on. If I hadn't had my seat belt on, I literally would have been thrown out of my seat by the turbulence (maybe thrown is an exaggeration-lifted a few inches in the air?). Not fun. Then we landed, I hopped on a bus, got off, and couldn't figure out where to go. So I took a taxi home. But all that aside, I made it back safely. 4 days was definitely not enough in Switzerland. I will have to go back someday :) And 4 months is definitely not enough in Spain. I only have 2 weeks left in Sevilla, 3 weeks total left in Spain. I love my family and friends and am so excited to get back and see everyone. But I'm not going to lie, if I could afford it, I'd come back for another semester after going home for Christmas. But if I've learned anything in my 26 years, its that God has waaaay different plans for my life than the plans I make for myself. So I look forward to what He has in store for me when I return, even though I am getting a bit sad about leaving!



I promise I will add photos later. For now, you'll have to look at them here.